Maurice W Partridge

1913-1973

Maurice William Partridge was born in Lincoln in 1913. He studied Pharmacy at University College, Nottingham, graduating in 1936. He then transferred to the School of Chemistry. Various appointments followed. In 1947 he became a lecturer in Chemistry, eventually becoming Lord Trent Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry.

He was also a discerning collector of English watercolours, regularly making forays to London to buy on behalf of the University of Nottingham, but also acquiring drawings for himself very much in the tradition of aritist-collectors. The influence of the English neo-romantic painters – Sutherland, Piper and perhaps also Ivon Hitchens is stronger in his work of the 50s and early 60s before Abstraction is powerfully asserted, but never so, in his later pictures.

A Fellow in Fine Art at Nottingham University (1956-9), Partridge exhibited with the Midland Group from 1955 to 1969. His work was included in the 1966 Whitechapel Art Gallery's 'Pictures for Schools' elsewhere. A Memorial Exhibition was staged at Nottingham University Art Gallery in 1973.